''Cyanoramphus'' is a genus of

parakeet A parakeet is any one of many small to medium-sized species of parrot, in multiple genera, that generally has long tail feathers. Etymology and naming The name ''parakeet'' is derived from the French wor''perroquet'' which is reflected in ...

s native to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

and islands of the southern

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

. The New Zealand forms are often referred to as kākāriki. They are small to medium-sized parakeets with long tails and predominantly green

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

. Most species are forest species, although several of the subantarctic species live in open grassland. The genus formerly had a disjunct distribution, with two species found in the

Society Islands The Society Islands (french: Îles de la Société, officially ''Archipel de la Société;'' ty, Tōtaiete mā) are an archipelago located in the South Pacific Ocean. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country of the F ...

and the majority of the genus ranging from

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

Macquarie Island Macquarie Island is an island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. Regionally part of Oceania and politically a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1900, it became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 197 ...

, but absent from the in between. Despite many

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

birds being found in the islands between these two areas being found none of these were of undescribed ''Cyanoramphus'' species. Like many other species of birds the ''Cyanoramphus'' parakeets have suffered from changes brought about by humans. The two species from the Society Islands, the

black-fronted parakeet The extinct black-fronted parakeet or Tahiti parakeet (''Cyanoramphus zealandicus'') was endemic to the Pacific island of Tahiti. Its native name was simply ''’ā’ā'' ("parrot") according to Latham (1790) though White (1887) gives "''aa- ...

and the

Society parakeet The Raiatea parakeet or Society parakeet (''Cyanoramphus ulietanus''), also known as the Society kakariki or brown-headed parakeet, is an extinct parakeet of the genus ''Cyanoramphus''. Description The Raiatea parakeet averaged 25 cm (9.7 ...

, have become extinct as have the subspecies from

Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland Po ...

and

, as well as an undescribed form from Campbell Island. One species, the

Malherbe's parakeet Malherbe may refer to: People * Malherbe (surname) ** François de Malherbe (1555-1628), French poet, reformer of French language Places France * La Haye-Malherbe, municipality of Eure * Malherbe-sur-Ajon, new municipality of Calvados ** ...

(''C. malherbi''), is critically endangered while most other species are endangered or vulnerable. Habitat loss and

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

are considered responsible for the declines and extinctions. The genus ''Cyanoramphus'' was introduced in 1854 by the French ornithologist

Charles Lucien Bonaparte Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano (24 May 1803 – 29 July 1857), was a French naturalist and ornithologist. Lucien and his wife had twelve children, including Cardinal Lucien Bonaparte. Life and career ...

. The genus name combines the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...

''kuanos'' meaning "dark-blue" and ''rhamphos'' meaning "bill". The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specim ...

was designated by English zoologist

George Robert Gray George Robert Gray FRS (8 July 1808 – 6 May 1872) was an English zoologist and author, and head of the ornithological section of the British Museum, now the Natural History Museum, in London for forty-one years. He was the younger brother ...

in 1855 as what is now the extinct

(''Cyanoramphus zealandicus'').

Species

There are 12 recognised species, of which 4 are extinct: * †

Black-fronted parakeet The extinct black-fronted parakeet or Tahiti parakeet (''Cyanoramphus zealandicus'') was endemic to the Pacific island of Tahiti. Its native name was simply ''’ā’ā'' ("parrot") according to Latham (1790) though White (1887) gives "''aa- ...

(''C. zealandicus'') * †

Raiatea parakeet The Raiatea parakeet or Society parakeet (''Cyanoramphus ulietanus''), also known as the Society kakariki or brown-headed parakeet, is an extinct parakeet of the genus ''Cyanoramphus''. Description The Raiatea parakeet averaged 25 cm (9.7 ...

(''C. ulietanus'') *

New Caledonian parakeet The New Caledonian parakeet (''Cyanoramphus saisseti'') or New Caledonian red-crowned parakeet, is a species of parrot in the family Psittaculidae. It is endemic to New Caledonia. The species was once considered to be conspecific with the red ...

(''C. saisseti'') *

Chatham parakeet The Chatham parakeet (''Cyanoramphus forbesi''), also known as Forbes' parakeet, is a rare parakeet endemic to the Chatham Islands group, New Zealand. This parakeet is one of New Zealand's rarest birds and is classified as Vulnerable on the IU ...

(''C. forbesi'') formerly considered a subspecies of ''C. auriceps'' *

Norfolk parakeet The Norfolk parakeet (''Cyanoramphus cookii''), also called Tasman parakeet, Norfolk Island green parrot or Norfolk Island red-crowned parakeet, is a species of parrot in the family Psittaculidae. It is endemic to Norfolk Island (located betwe ...

(''C. cooki'') * † Lord Howe parakeet (''C. subflavescens'') * Antipodes parakeet (''C. unicolor'') *

Yellow-crowned parakeet The yellow-crowned parakeet (''Cyanoramphus auriceps'') is a species of parakeet endemic to the islands of New Zealand. The species is found across the main three islands of New Zealand, North Island, South Island and Stewart Island/Rakiura, as ...

(''C. auriceps'') *

(''C. malherbi'') formerly considered a subspecies of ''C. auriceps'' *

Red-crowned parakeet The red-crowned parakeet (''Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae''), also known as red-fronted parakeet and by its Māori name of kākāriki,Parr, M., Juniper, T., D'Silva, C., Powell, D., Johnston, D., Franklin, K., & Restall, R. (2010). Parrots: A Guid ...

(''C. novaezelandiae'') *

Reischek's parakeet Reischek's parakeet (''Cyanoramphus hochstetteri'') is a small green parrot confined to Antipodes Island, one of New Zealand’s subantarctic islands, which it shares with a congener, the larger Antipodes parakeet. Taxonomy The common name com ...

(''C. hochstetteri'') formerly considered a subspecies of ''C. novaezelandiae'' * † Macquarie parakeet (''C. erythrotis'') The two forms of ''C. erythrotis'' are usually considered to be distinct species: the single specimen believed to be from

( Canterbury Museum specimen AV2099, O'Connor catalog 369) in Boon ''et al.s analysis has turned out to be from the

Antipodes Islands The Antipodes Islands ( Maōri: Moutere Mahue; "Abandoned island") are inhospitable and uninhabited volcanic islands in subantarctic waters to the south of – and territorially part of – New Zealand. The 21 km2 archipelago lies 860 ...

population (''hochstetteri'') instead. In addition there are subfossil remains from a yet undescribed extinct ''Cyanoramphus'' species from Campbell Island.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q637549 Parrots Bird genera Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte